Having a strategic plan for your nonprofit is not that unusual, and a great part one of two plans needed to make it all happen. So often a fund development plan isn’t even considered as part of the path to strategic planning success. Unfortunately one without the other can lead to frustration for staff and/or the board, as well as make funders and maybe even volunteers wonder what’s going on when the time comes to scramble and figure out the money part.
You can have an amazing strategic plan but if you haven’t factored in the funding needed for it you may be flying blind. Maybe the board assumes staff will raise the money. Maybe staff assumes the board will raise the money. Maybe in the excitement of planning the ‘what’ the ‘how’ was left out. Regardless of how you get there, a strategic plan that needs implemented without the financial resources to do so can lead to frustration, maybe some chaos, and a scramble to get from behind the wheel.
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